About Me

I’m a 51-year-old Aspergic CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds' to remind it why it feeds.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Along with the hard polystyrene plastic 'kit' figures 'Track Officials and Spectators' meant
for the slot-racing system; these were the only modern civilian set issued in 1:32
scale, equating to 54mm.

Title / Titles

Footballers Sports Series

Catalogue
number/s

Cat No. 1835 - Code No. 51470-3 (Type One box)

Code No. 51470-3 (Type Two box)

Item-No. 51470-3 (French box)

One Airfix
website has credited the set with the following codes - 9-51570 for 1980-84, 14
figure 'small boxes' and 51570 for the 1986 equivalent; to
this author's knowledge, neither set was issued and no second referee was
tooled-up, as would have been necessary.

Catalogue
entries

9th Edition

10th Edition

11th Edition

12th Edition

13th Edition

14th Edition

15th Edition

Meaning it was advertised (in all versions) from between 1971 and 1978
inclusively, whatever the retail availability and/or actual issue/batch date/s.
The first version box seems no rarer than the second, so when the '73 artwork
boxes actually got released is another question.

They say

"This new set of model figures
will enable the enthusiast to stage his own football match. There are 29 pieces
in the set - 24 players, in various poses, 2 trainers, 2 linesmen and a
referee. In addition there are 2 footballs. We leave the choice of team colours
to you as all the figures are unpainted." 9th edition catalogue,
issued autumn 1971 for 1972

There are other differences in layout of
that box rear and while the word footballers is on the front (and the four
sides - leading to changes in the positioning of the figures on the long
sides), on the back panel is has been changed to Footballeurs with a 'u', also the La Redoute logotype is to be found round all four sides of the box
under the 'Footballers'.

Number of figures/accessories per box

The early box describes the set as
containing 29 scale pieces, there are in fact 29 figures and two ball as one
additional 'spruelette' moulding for a 30 or 31-count depending on whether they
are found mint or loose.

Figure poses -
by identifying number/letter codes

Figures are not
marked.

Other notes

*The two figures above – reaching high
& reaching low – are actually the same goalkeeper pose, placed in different
attitudes vis-à-vis the base, prior to the final stages of the cavity
positioning/cutting/mould-making process.

One of the two balls, if anything about
this set is 'rare' (and it's neither of the box types if evilbeevilBay is
anything to go by!) it is the footballs, which are tiny and easily lost, I've
never checked but I think they may actually be under-scale?

Comparison between an Airfix figure and two
of his clones; the Champions of Soccer
board-game playing piece from Mike
Orchard Enterprises, published in 1984 and a Hong Kong marked rack toy/cake
decoration.

Vis-à-vis the HK one; the same source seems
to have been responsible for the copies of the Airfix 1:32nd scale Napoleonic
Infantry, being issued in the same colours and wearing the same, quite neat,
base-mark.

Another of the Mike Orchard figures, it's easy to mistake the six Champions of Soccer players for Airfix if found in this colour, but he
is both slightly smaller and a paler, wishy-washy creamy-white, rather than the
full 'double-cream' of the Airfix
originals.

The above are just four scans from the
earlier box. There are more comparisons to come, more of the HK figures and
better images of the 2nd version box - if I didn't sell them all in 2011, time
will tell?

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